


you can be king again

by babysungie



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Kindred Spirits, M/M, Summer Romance, Supernatural Elements, based on hotarubi no mori e, big sad movie i love it, lapslock
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 04:21:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20736149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babysungie/pseuds/babysungie
Summary: "Time might separate us some day. But until then, let's stay together."***honeyed skin, rucked up sleeves, whistling trees. jisung wished that summers with chan never ended.





	you can be king again

**Author's Note:**

> okay i havent written in like 10 years so please go easy on me,, also this is really short and horrible im sorry :((
> 
> also AU! where chans hair is not fried n hes not bald

**Summer 2019**

the train is hot. stifling even; the muggy heat pressing in on jisung and the other commuters on the train alike. jisung inwardly cringes when his arm, sticky with summer sweat, brushes against the arm of the high school student standing lazily beside him. he knows its inevitable, knows full well that its gross, but the harsh sidewards glance was completely uncalled for if jisung was being completely honest. 

the occasional rush of cool air from the overhead air condition feels like the greatest luxury on earth to jisung who after barely five minutes in that hell hole had sweat collecting at every single crevice of his body, his situation thusly worsened by the fact that he had nothing to occupy himself with. jisung felt boredom weigh in on his mind while watching the trains on the railway parallel to his pass by in a flash and then blink out of existence, leaving jisung with the sight of dull grey buildings. the cityscape was unapologetically urban, just monoliths of concrete soaring out of the sidewalk in an exact grid pattern. 

jisung stares out of the age-greased window, eyes unfocused until the shrill _eek eek eek_ of the rusted wheels screamed against the track, the grating sound piercing his thoughts and his being. the movements of the train slowly but surely trickled down to a stop. the silence in the train was palpable, until it was broken albeit ungracefully by a surge of complaints by a near-balding middle aged man, tastefully adding a slew of unsavoury words, undoubtedly leaving the young girl in the same train carriage traumatised for life.

hot flashes of annoyance bit at jisung's skin; stretching his leg out and then back in, boredom announced by the rhythmic tap-tap of his neatly manicured fingernails against the neon green silicone casing of his phone. it was suffocating. the familiar rattle of an incoming train makes jisung immediately perk up, grateful for the welcome distraction. jisung watches the train pass by silently, eyes scrutinising each and every detail of the off-white vehicle, heart beating out of his chest, hands sweaty and jisung hasn't an inkling why he's feeling that way all of a sudden. suddenly, a flash of white pulls his attention to its source like a light to a moth. it was as if time slowed and it was only the two of them floating in the abyss of nothingness, eyes locked onto each others.

it was merely a stranger. a beautiful stranger at that. yet he looked achingly familiar to jisung. the gentle slope of his nose, the defined jaw, the white tumble of hair on his head, with curls that defied the rules of gravity with an equal contempt. his eyes tugged jisung in, tugging at the very core of his being to just reach out. and he does so without hesitation. the illusion cut short when his hand meets with the barrier that was the glass window separating him and the outside world. fingers splayed against the glass, jisung watched, stunned, as the green flecks in his grey eyes glinted in the sun. the stranger was beauty embodied in a singular person. in that single moment which lasted an eternity, jisung's eyes met the stranger's. it probably barely lasted a millisecond but jisung gaze met the stranger's, the stranger's eyes riddled with familiarity and although they seemed lively, there was a wisened look to them. carrying the weight of stories which jisung felt that he should know by heart. but he didn't. he couldn't.

jisung is cruelly ripped from his trance when the engine of his train slowly starts up, jerking slowly into motion, and the other train blinks painfully out of existence. tearing him and the stranger apart. the moment felt lie his earliest memory, like a dream half-remembered. he had the queerest feeling he had lived through this exact moment before. however one thing was for sure. with the stranger's peculiar appearance, it brought up long buried emotions and stirred the reality that jisung had thought was set in stone. 

jisung knows for certain that he doesn't have the time or luxury to pursue the stranger, what with him already at the risk of being late for his first lecture, but the importance of university could barely hold a flame to the raw emotion of longing surging out of him, propelling him out of the train at the very next station and riding on the opposite line stopping merely at the next stop even though jisung knew that his chances of seeing the stranger was slim. but there was this feeling, as if there was an unknown force pulling him like a magnet towards the stranger. jisung craned his neck and stood on his tippy toes, hoping to see a mop of white above the towering heads of the masses who traipsed slowly across the train platform as if not sensing his desperation. 

faint memories swirled around in his head teasingly, nothing solid and concrete for jisung to grasp onto. the memories came and went by alike a roll on a vintage projector fast-forwarded such that he only caught brief glimpses of it. 

_summer winds moving the deepening foliage, tinkling laughter, the saccharine sweetness of fresh, crimson watermelons_

a glimpse of white in his peripheral vision urged him to surge forward through the crowd, an unwithering sense of urgency flooding his veins as the stranger makes to round the corner ahead of them. and before jisung realises it, his lips round, forming a single syllable, a name which comes to him as naturally as to how bees take to honey, as naturally as to how waves lap gently at the beach shores. 

**"chan!"**

the name is drowned out by the incessant chatter of the young school children, the sharp click-clack of the heels of business women and the weathering coughs of the elderly. however jisung stands alone, drowning in his solitude as his world is harshly thrust back into a dull, monochromatic aesthetic. gazing at the hallway now devoid of any white haired angels. although now, its different. hope and wanderlust claws at the base of his ribs, desperate to bubble up to the surface and escape after years of being squashed down and ignored. a bittersweet smile plays on jisung's lips as he thinks to himself, "after all this time at least i kept his promise."

_"it's okay if you forget about me."_

oh how jisung longs to return to those wondrous summer days he spent growing up, the feeling of a non-stop buzzing in his brain. it was the calling-card of adventure, of paths awaiting his feet with no destination in mind. but with one smile from the strange spirit boy, everything was right in the universe and he would follow the older boy to the ends of the universe if it meant spending more time with him. that's how special chan was to han jisung. still is. even if jisung knows for a fact that he is gone. 

after all, if chan touched a human he would disappear, leaving no proof of his existence behind except recollections which is bound to fade someday. a concept that jisung is uncomfortably familiar with. the heartbreak which jisung used to experience every summer since then, it felt like death just the same as bereavement and it quiet moments it choked the breath from his body and short circuited his mind. painful memories along with the chan-shaped hole in his heart that jisung had buried under a facade of nonchalance and fake smiles that stayed hidden there. up until now. 

jisung steels himself. he will no longer be swayed by any white haired boys who bear even a single slight resemblance to the mysterious spirit he met years ago. chan was a sacred memory that resides deep in the woods near jisung's uncles farm filled with joy and innocence, not to be tainted by urban life and capitalist culture. chan is irreplaceable. and with that, jisung rebuilds the steel barrier around his heart, an impregnable fortress able to withstand almost anything. 

chan is gone and jisung knows that and he also knows full well that he will keep getting his heart broken if he continues to keep his hopes up. so jisung does what he does best, bury the incident into a cramped, dark corner of his mind and convince himself that it was merely a coincidence, a mirage of the boy he once loved. he hopes that the slight tremble of his lips and his glassy eyes doesn't give him away.

**Author's Note:**

> also kudos n comments make my day <33


End file.
